Day 411: Operation London Bridge

09/09/2022

Thursday morning began with an early morning call to the Big Birthday Boy, Happy Birthday Xavier! It sounded like he had a fantastic day.

A few days ago Eloise was very intrigued when she discovered the pineapple in the supermarket. She was ready to try it out! “Super slipperyyy”.

We had made it this far, it was finally our last day in Okehampton. We had all had enough, Curious George had started calling it Jokehampton, not long now.

The terrible weather in Jokehampton was heading Glasgow’s way. Have no fear, Eloise was well prepared for the afternoon walk kitted out in goggles, tutu and wellies.

After another big day, we made our way back to Bristol Aiport, farewell Jokehampton!

Turns out the joke was on us as our flight was delayed a few hours. We were settling in for five hours at Bristol Airport when all of a sudden you could sense the atmosphere change. Queen Elizabeth II had passed away, sadly Operation London Bridge had commenced. The news swept through the airport at such a rate. “Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years. She died peacefully on Thursday afternoon at her Scottish estate, where she had spent much of the summer”. “Queen Elizabeth: Monarch with a genuine love for Scotland”.

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her life and served as monarch of 15 of them at the time of her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the longest of any British monarch and the longest recorded of any female head of state in history. Elizabeth was born in Mayfair, London, as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII, making Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She was educated privately at home and began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In November 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, and their marriage lasted 73 years until his death in April 2021. They had four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.

Thanks to a delayed flight it was almost 01:00 Friday morning by the time I got home. After a rapid power nap, it was a quick catchup with the kids and Super Duper Mum. It was challenging being away from them for so long, in fact, the longest I have ever been away from the kids. Lachlan was eager to show me his new party trick.

Six hours after arriving home at the wee hours of the morning, the Little Helpers switched suitcases and I was ready to go again.

It was a strange feeling walking out of Glasgow Airport in the morning and realising your departing flight is already on the departures board.

At 08:00 it was back to the home away from home, this was a longer one.

Surprisingly, I did not feel too tired at this point, although I think I was running on adrenaline. While winding the watch an hour back it was a nice calm flight into Amsterdam. There was a short transit before shooting up to Denmark, Aalborg. There were no direct flights from Scotland.

By this point, I had hit a wall and fallen asleep before takeoff, waking up on approach into Aalborg.

Meanwhile, the kids were having a great time at Hoolies, Lachlan is getting better on all the equipment. Confidence has never been an issue, but he is definitely looking more stable.

After a fun time running about and a top-up of snacks it was time for art.

The kids had been terrific throughout the week so we all deserved our favourite takeaway.

After a long day of travelling, Dream Team 2.0 had made it to Denmark, Aalborg. I was itching for some exercise after a long week and we were excited to check out the city.

The incredible architecture of the city brought back many happy memories of Copenhagen. One of our favourite cities we visited during our 2018 holiday.

Jørgen Olufsen’s House is located in Aalborg, Denmark. Built in 1616 on the Østerå, a wide-mouth stream which became the city’s harbour. Its current address is Østerågade 25. The three-storey house is Denmark’s best preserved merchant’s mansion in the Renaissance style. Built mainly of sandstone, it also has a half-timbered section. Olufsen, the older half-brother of Jens Bang who built the equally notable Jens Bang’s House, was a successful merchant as well as Aalborg’s mayor. The residence features an integrated warehouse.

We had a lovely stroll where we miraculously did not get hit by a bike or electric car. The city was beautiful and quiet, it was incredible seeing the cyclists out in force. It is unbelievable how wrong we have got lifestyle in the Western world, the Danes all looked so happy, we were extremely jealous of the cycling infrastructure and lack of Glaswegian potholes. For dinner were pizzas that were far too big. You know when they do not fit on the table you have a problem. I tried the “Aalborg Pizza”. We had to do some quick maths to convert the Danish Krone into Pounds or Roo Dollars,

Aalborg is Denmark’s fourth largest city… As of 1 July 2022, the Municipality of Aalborg had a population of 221,082, making it the third most populous in the country after the municipalities of Copenhagen and Aarhus… The earliest settlements date to around AD 700. Aalborg’s position at the narrowest point on the Limfjord made it an important harbour during the Middle Ages, and later a large industrial centre. Architecturally, the city is known for its half-timbered mansions built by its prosperous merchants.

Dominating global news, “King Charles III pays tribute to his mother in first speech”. In Scotland “a gun salute has been fired from the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle as the country mourns the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The ceremony saw 96 shots – one for every year of the Queen’s life – fired at 10 second intervals by the Royal Artillery”.